Right-wing yoga
Suzanne Pacheco left a nice comment on the Pet Debate thread. "I applaud you for posting an animal welfare article on a conservative forum," she wrote. There's an implied premise there, obviously. Now, as I've argued, there's no reason concern for the welfare of animals need devolve from a left-wing perspective; it can just as easily be made, say, by George Bush's and Sarah Palin's speechwriter. (And has in fact been made, and made more effectively than it has ever been made by anyone associated with the Left.)
There are quite a number of issues and tastes that seem arbitrarily, or by accidents of history, to be associated with Utopianism, Marxism, hostility to private property, anti-clericalism and the other authentic core beliefs of the Left. Why, for example, is it a near-certainty that I can scandalize every other participant in any yoga class I attend, anywhere in the world, by declaring myself an avid admirer of Margaret Thatcher? I challenge you to read the yoga sutras and conclude from them that devotees of yoga must favor inflexible labor markets and an over-regulated financial sector. I challenge you to conclude anything at all from them, in fact; they're more or less inscrutable. About the only certain thing you can say is that the yogic sages took a dim view of ignorance and craving, as do we all, I'm sure. It's hardly a view that puts Patanjali next to Bakhunin in the pantheon of revolutionaries.
I love animals. I hate communists. There's really no inconsistency in these views. There's hardly even an intersection. Why yoga, of all things, should be seen as the purview of the Left, I have no idea, especially since yoga is almost exclusively the pastime of privileged, upper-middle-class bourgeois white women; indeed, you could pretty much scrap the UN's human development index and assess a nation's level of development by measuring the number of yoga studios per capita.
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Jun '10
Re: Right-wing yoga
Good morning, Claire. All the points you make are valid. There is no inherent contradiction between conservatism and any of the fads that leftists hold dear. And for the left "fad" describes best the depth of their beliefs. The left is anti-intellectual; most of their core beliefs are assumptions that won't stand up in the face of rigorous debate. Leftists tend to be cultish with a preference for anything that smacks of the exotic "other." And leftists tend to be smug about their intellectual, moral, and spiritual superiority.
I can name many conservatives who began their adult lives as liberals, but I know of not one conservative apostate to the cause of liberalism. Some people are born into conservative households. For the rest of us the conservative epiphany arrives after a long journey that requires a combination of life experience, deep reading, and reflection. That's my take anyway.
May '10
Re: Right-wing yoga
Claire, I am hereby inviting you to yoga class with me here in Austin, TX. I would be there for your protection as you proclaim why Margaret Thatcher matters. I'll even treat you to lunch later in the adjoining ecologically-friendly vegetarian cafe'.
Meanwhile, I shall now visualize The Iron Lady when I start to "go wobbly" in a standing pose.
Namaste.
May '10
Re: Right-wing yoga
I think we're back to the class debate. I would guess that AFL-CIO membership is equally low in yoga classes. Something about have 60-90 minutes and $25+ to burn. But I am a sometimes practitioner and fan.
Funny story in the Times awhile back. It seems New York state looked into regulating yoga instruction schools just like they regulate cosmetology schools and apparently there was enough influential push back to get the issue tabled indefinitely. Pretty bald case of different rules for different classes:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/11/nyregion/11yoga.html
May '10
Re: Right-wing yoga
You aren't privileged, white, and upper-middle-class? How disillusioning.
Until I was 17 I thought that yoga lived in Jellystone Park.
Re: Right-wing yoga
Of course I am. Look in the dictionary under those words and you'll find a photo of me. By the way, I commend to your attention the wing-relieving pose, although it doesn't specify which wing. And I believe they meant "wind."
Jul '10
Re: Right-wing yoga
The animal welfare issue never fails to surprise me, it's like people think I actually kill kittens as a hobby. In (western) urban environments, however, I wouldn't say yoga is exclusive to upper-middle-class bourgeois white women, as there's rarely even one such woman in my class at all. (Of course...my yoga classes take place in the gayest gym in the gayest neighborhood on earth, and I suspect no one would even know who I was talking about if I mentioned Margaret Thatcher despite my occasionally working out in a shirt with her picture on it.)
Re: Right-wing yoga
Point taken! It's the purview of upper-middle-class bourgeois white women and upper-middle-class bourgeois white gay men. Welcome, Jonathan! Jonathan, by the way, is the one working on the Margaret Thatcher opera. Also by the way, this is an old item, but it never fails to amuse me, as I'm sure it will you. And perhaps only you.
Edited on Jul 12, 2010 at 8:12amMay '10
Re: Right-wing yoga
Claire Berlinski
Of course I am. Look in the dictionary under those words and you'll find a photo of me. By the way, I commend to your attention the wing-relieving pose, although it doesn't specify which wing. And I believe they meant "wind." · Jul 12 at 7:49am
Oh, dear, I think I was just cleverly insulted by being called a gasbag. You only say it because it's true!
The dictionary picture was, BTW, tinted orange.....
Re: Right-wing yoga
Duane Oyen
Oh, dear, I think I was just cleverly insulted by being called a gasbag. You only say it because it's true!
The dictionary picture was, BTW, tinted orange..... · Jul 12 at 8:12am
That didn't even occur to me, I swear! I was just trying to find a single reference to right-wing yoga on Google. I failed. But I found that. As for me being orange, apparently there's a chakra-healing program that might help.
May '10
Re: Right-wing yoga
Claire, 'tis better to look orange than to look fat.
May '10
Re: Right-wing yoga
No, Duane, I think she was just trying to help you with your laxative addiction.
Claire Berlinski
Duane Oyen
Oh, dear, I think I was just cleverly insulted by being called a gasbag. You only say it because it's true!
The dictionary picture was, BTW, tinted orange..... · Jul 12 at 8:12am
That didn't even occur to me, I swear! I was just trying to find a single reference to right-wing yoga on Google. I failed. But I found that. As for me being orange, apparently there's a chakra-healing program that might help. · Jul 12 at 8:27am
Re: Right-wing yoga
In Venice Beach, where I live, there are about 6 yoga studios within a mile or so. Each one has its own special vibe -- one's for athletes; one's very 'Hare Krishna'; one's all gooey and lefty -- and I used to go about three times a week (and keep promising myself to jump back in).
I was there the day after the 2004 election. And everyone was somber and depressed. The yoga teacher even said something rueful and plucky at the top of the class, something like, "I know we're all trying to....process...events outside of this space, but let this next hour and a half be a sanctuary..." Or something.
You learn to ignore it.
But I'm on the board of a homeless youth agency in Hollywood, and when I tell people about it -- most of my friends here are liberals -- they often say something like, "Wow, I didn't know Republicans cared about stuff like that," and then I laugh and ask them for money. Which I don't always get. Because liberals think of taxes like a charitable donation, freeing them from the burden of making any additional more charitable donations.
Jun '10
Re: Right-wing yoga
Conservatives engage in yoga at probably similar rates as liberals as they do with other 'trendy' things; organic food, recycling, fair trade coffee, wheat grass shots, free range chicken, local business... We just don't think these things will save the world and don't pat ourselves on the back every time we toss a soup can in the blue bin instead of the brown one.
Plus, we don't put as much energy, faith and time into these things because we're too busy, oh yeah, HAVING JOBS. ...hippies.
Jun '10
Re: Right-wing yoga
Very true. Thomas Sowell talks about this in many of his essays. Conservatives donate more blood, money, time ... pretty much anything that isn't required by law than liberals do. I believe he said on UncKnow with Mr. Robinson: if all people donated blood like conservatives do, there would be 50% more blood in blood banks today.
Look at the example of the last election VP candidates. Biden who makes a great magnitude more than Palin does donated only a fraction of what she did to charity in the FY 2007.
You hit the nail right on the head, Mr. Long.
May '10
Re: Right-wing yoga
No, they think of those rich people's taxes as a charitable donation. That extra "fair share" they pay goes to poor people. It's social punishment...I mean justice.
May '10
Re: Right-wing yoga
Take credit for it, Claire! It would qualify as a solid, subtle evisceration worthy of David B. Use it again, on your liberal of choice.....
Andrea Ryan: No, Duane, I think she was just trying to help you with your laxative addiction.
Well, you know the pressures of maintaining my girlish figure at this age when the metabolism stops cold.
May '10
Re: Right-wing yoga
Duane Oyen:
Andrea Ryan: No, Duane, I think she was just trying to help you with your laxative addiction.
Well, you know the pressures of maintaining my girlish figure at this age when the metabolism stops cold. · Jul 12 at 10:51am
Oh, it's not the competitive wrestling?
May '10
Re: Right-wing yoga
Yes, exactly! It does seem that the left has captured the perception that they are more involved in civic or charitable causes than those of us on the right, despite data to the contrary.
And I fell into that trap with my comment. Arrrrgh!!! Let me take another swag:
"I applaud you for posting an animal welfare article in a forum where us upper middle class - well, before this presidency, anyway - conservatives can act on it, as soon as we get out of yoga class."
May '10
Re: Right-wing yoga
Andrea Ryan
Duane Oyen:
Andrea Ryan: No, Duane, I think she was just trying to help you with your laxative addiction.
Well, you know the pressures of maintaining my girlish figure at this age when the metabolism stops cold. · Jul 12 at 10:51am
Oh, it's not the competitive wrestling? · Jul 12 at 11:40am
Good grief, Drea, you were in Minneapolis when you were young, you should know that Vern Gagne (http://www.wrestlingmuseum.com/pages/bios/halloffame/gagnebio.html) and Da Crusher (an inch taller than me and 85 pounds heavier- http://thehouseofoldschool.blogspot.com/2007/08/crusher.html) didn't exactly have to slave away to maintain any kind of figure.
They would stomp around the ring and then go drink beer till 1 AM. All I need to do to stay in equivalent shape is to avoid the beer- easy for me since the stuff looks and tastes like septic tank pumpings.
Re: Right-wing yoga
"I applaud you for posting an animal welfare article in a forum where us upper middle class - well, before this presidency, anyway - conservatives can act on it, as soon as we get out of yoga class." · Jul 12 at 11:54am
Suzanne, I was going to say the same thing -- "upper middle class until this presidency." (Or more accurately, before the global economic crisis, which we must all acknowledge, in fairness, antedated this presidency.) The only thing that kept me from writing those very words was that I judged them a bit of a downer.